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2012-12-01 - Social Warfare 101
Jean-Phillipe is dressed differently today. He is actually in white slacks, and a ribbed white long-sleeved shirt that clings to his torso. He still wears white boots however, but no gloves on his hands. The white ski-mask is also still in place, tucked beneath the high necked shirt. He sits in a classroom, atop the teacher's desk as he waits for Lorelei, for one of her lessons... Lorelei enters the classroom, dressed much the way she has been, previously, but in much newer clothing than what she has been wearing. Her jeans are dark blue and actually fit, and she's managed to find a light weight long sleeved shirt with a back that dips low enough that she didn't have to do any 'tayloring' to get her wings to fit. For once, she doesn't have her duster, having left it in her dorm room for her lesson. When she sees Jean-Phillipe, she smiles a little bashfully and clasps her hands behind her back, her wings folded tightly so that she doesn't bump into anything. Fantomex grins beneath his white mask, "Bonjour mon petite. Are you ready for your voice lessons? The next lesson will be on the theories on how to move and walk, and we will practice some of the forms. But for now, your voice lessons I think will be important. You never have to forget your native accent, but you should be able to work toward fitting in any environment, anywhere on the world if you want to become a master in social warfare." The scrawny teenager nods, nibbling on her lower lip and shifting her wings, "Yes, sir." Lore continues into the room until she's standing near a desk, looking nervous, but eager to learn what he has to teach her, "If it'll make me able t' help folks, I wanna do it." Even if she might lose her native accent in the process, "'Sides, I'm kinda tired of soundin' like a hick all th' time..." She's had a lot of people assume that she's stupid just because of the way she speaks. Hank McCoy makes his way down the hall form the chem lab. Not his lab but the student lab, he's dressed in his blue speedos, a white lab coat with safety goggles on his head. He whistles She blinded me by science as he stops to look at a bulletin board in the hall he half way sings/mumbles the chorus. "Assumptions can work in your benefit, and that accent of yours can be used as a weapon at times. But you also do not want it to undermine you when you wish to be taken seriously by the public," Jean-Phillipe advises. He then takes a deep breath and drops the heavy French accent, speaking as if a native America, "You just have to understand, that appearance, how one holds themselves, and how they sound as they speak is very important. This is especially true of first impressions." Then he speaks as a native German, sound very much like Kurt though he speaks English right now, "You can draw people's trust or distrust by their impressions of you." Then back to his French accented voice, "These are all abilities that you will learn and soon become proficient in Lore." He then chuckles, "I will work on the basic East Coast American accent, though not New Jersey. We shall pronounce our r's." Hank can perhaps hear some of this, but in either case as he moves from the board he can definitely hear the speech therapy starting. Fantomex starts having Lore repeat things after him, teaching her how to position her tongue and lips, even pulling his mask up to rest across the bridge of his nose to better show her, to pronounce things the way he requires. So yes, he definitely hears Fantomex sounding very educated East Coast American. Lorelei nods, lowering herself to sit and relaxing her wings so that they hang comfortably down the back of her chair, "I guess it could be useful f'r somebody t' think I'm stupid, sometimes..." She glances down at her outfit, "So I guess I gotta make a point t' dress more like this than I usu'ly do, huh?" Because clothing is part of a first impression. She looks more and more awed as he speaks with different accents, nodding eagerly, "Well, my granddaddy uses r's in weird places... Like 'warsh'." She giggles at the memory. She does her best to repeat Jean-Phillipe exactly, but, at least at first, isn't quite able to completely hide her Texan accent. She does enounceate clearly, however, so that she doesn't sound 'like a hick' nearly as much as she does when she isn't being careful about how she's speaking. Beast continues down the hall but stops as he hears Fantomex and Lorelei in a free classroom. The mutant science teacher/doctor peering in. Then seeing what they're working on he's about to head on his way not wishing to disrupt them. But he stops and listens for a moment. "Very good!" French accent again for Jean-Phillipe. "You are doing very good. You will want to practice until it becomes second nature, and then we will work on a new accent. Perhaps, I shall teach you some French, and how to speak in a Parisian accent, and how to move as a Parisian does." He winks at Lorelei. His head then tilts up as he notices Beast, "Bonjour Hank. How was S.H.I.E.L.D." He totally ran after Lorelei and was not hanging around to meet the intelligence organization. Lorelei flushes with pleasure at the praise, "Thank you." She keeps using the East Coast accent, giggling softly at the thought of being taught to 'move as a Parisian', "I don't think I could do that... I'm still just a small town girl, after all." She looks over at where Beast is lurking, and smiles brightly, "Hello, Dr. McCoy." She seems to have recovered, at least for the most part, from her fright on the mission. Beast nods, "Lorelei, Fantomex. Acting 101?" He says as he moves into the room. He brissels at the mention of SHIELD, "I'll be getting the smell of bad cigars out of my fur for months. Worse than Logan, I swear." "But that's the point of social warfare, to get a chance to be someone you are not mon petite." Jean-Phillipe chuckles himself. "Is that the smell?" His tone is teasing at Beast. "And close, Social Warfare. Basically how to blend in and manipulate a social situation. You have very bright and even powerful students here Hank, but not a single one can talk and manipulate their way out of a social situation that wouldn't include blunt honesty. Lorelei has the potential I believe. And if she needs a female perspective, I have a feeling Psylocke is very good at social warfare, the woman awes even me." A sly smile beneath his mask at that. The comment that she has the potential to be manipulative, and implication that she's not quite as honest as the other students, has Lore blushing, but she just shrugs, "Ya learn to do what ya gotta when you're just tryin' t' survive from one day t' the next." It's not exactly an excuse, but most of the students at the school didn't have to do that. Beast frowns at the mention of social warfare. "That's cause Fantomex, we do give students training to control their powers and combat awareness if they like. But we do not train them to be spies or soldiers. We hope one day the proverbably sword will be beaten into a plow. I am not sure if you're understanding the true purpose of this school." "Spies or soldiers? Did you ever consider that logic and honesty is non always the best route to get out of a difficult situation, but the use of manipulation can get you out without violence or coming to blows? It has nothing to do with spies and soldiers, though you can certainly use the same skills to improve your role as such. It's about protecting what you care about in ways that do not require using superpowers or pulling a trigger. It is not about lying to lie, or even lying to hurt someone. I can walk into the most run-down underworld establishment and be accepted as one of their own, or walk into an upper class establishment like your big shots of Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark attend, and be fully accepted. As a result, I can gather a mass amount of information from varying sources without a fight. But one cannot do this without the education and knowledge to do so. It's a skill obtained through practice and education Beast, that can be used to help or harm, just like anything else in this world." Fantomex shakes his head then, "Think what you want of me, I do more than social warfare. I do not claim to be innocent. But the skills I offer to teach Lorelei is to honestly help keep her safe and obtain the goals she believes deserving, not to make her S.H.I.E.L.D. or assassin material." Is Fantomex offended? He sounds as if he is. He pushes certain students to the line, but he tries not to push them over it. "These students need certain tools to survive that they will excel at, but I will be honest, I do not want a single one of them to be me. Nor will I try to make them so. I know I am non a good person, I just...," he pauses, as if realizing he is about to reveal more than he means. He then shrugs dramatically, "It matters not. I do not expect people to think highly of me." "Dr. McCoy?" Lorelei sounds almost hesitant, but barely waits to be acknowledged before continuing, "I know that I ain't th' best fighter; I ain't built f'r it. And I don't have th' best control over my powers, sometimes, ev'n if they was stronger than they are. Wind can't do that much." Not to her thinking, anyway, "But I c'n do this. I know I can!" She straightens, folding her hands in her lap, "I did alright with th' Senator. I wanna be able t' do that t' help my friends an' keep 'em from gettin' hurt f'r no reason." She pauses for a moment, "T' help all mutants, if I can." Beast forehead smacks, "Well I see already putting things to practice." He looks at Lorelei, "What he's giving you is a powerful weapon. If I see you putting it to use on the boys. You will be in the headmasters office so quick your head will spin." He snorts, "Fantomex, It's not that I think your a bad person. I just don't know if your completely sure this is not a military installation. I guess If your going to teach her pick up some other students and teach them the ethics behind it just not the tools." "..." Fantomex stares at Beast, "You do realize I have no comprehension of ethics, right? Only of personal choice. The concept of ethics is beyond me beyond the theory of the social norms accepted by society. So that means if you are in a society that eats other people for celebrations, I find that ethically acceptable as it is the social norm for that society." He sounds serious. "I just know Lorelei is the type that honestly cares about others and wants to help and protect them. And she feels frustrated with her own current limitations, but this is something she can grasp and excel at even while still struggling with control over her powers. Actually, these lessons could end up helping her control her powers due to the fact it encourages self-discipline." Fantomex really has no clue what Beast wants him to teach Lorelei about ethics, and is being honest that he is clueless here. "Do you need to sit on some of the lessons?" This is why he says Generation X needs Alex, though Alex once spoken about giving more training of them over to Fantomex...the man declined as he knows he is 'missing something' the school finds important in situations like this. Lorelei blushes brightly and quickly shakes her head, "I wouldn' do that!" Use her new skills on the boys at the school? No way! The only thing that she would do is, maybe, try to get them to do their homework, if they're shirking. She ducks her head, a little, at Jean-Phillipe's assessment of her, and shrugs, not commenting on it. Though, when he says that it might help her to be able to control her powers, she looks surprised and hopeful. That would be a very good reason to continue with these lessons, if for no other reason. Beast nods, "Let me think on it and talk to some of the other professors. I usually don't teach ethics. But it would be to ensure she knows when and when not to use this on people. I would suggest Laura for this class." He looks down at his watch, "Oh crap, my chem lab is 10 minutes late. I better get down there before Jennifer blows up the lab again." "Ughs," is the response at the mention of Jennifer. "And very well, just let me know. I will mention this to Laura, and I suspect Kenzie would be interested." But he already knows where his primary concern lies...Lorelei, as she was specially chosen for this task. Jean-Phillipe then turns back to look at Lore, "Let us continue then. We will work on conjunctions next. Wouldn't." Again, that Parisian accent disappears and he is speaking in that educated East Coast accent. "If it proves too difficult at first, separate your words: Would Not." Lorelei rolls her eyes a little at the mention of Jennifer and sits quietly as other girls are mentioned as being potentially interested in these lessons. When she's told to continue, she wrinkles her nose and sighs, doing her best to speak clearly and with as little of her native accent as possible, "Wouldn'." She frowns and sighs, "Would not." Apparently, she just can't not drop the t. "We will speak with would not in the meantime and can not, and so on. We will continue to practice wouldn't and can't however. Now again," Jean-Phillipe advises. He then stands up from where he sits on the desk and stretches. "And while we practice verbally, let's work on how to stand and talk at the same time. Walking though, we will just concentrate on walking." Lorelei nods and repeats the words quietly before sighing at the command to stand. She does rise, however, standing with her shoulders back and her arms hanging loosely at her sides; her wings folded, but not tense. She appears to be halfway decent at standing, but, then again, she is a singer. Fantomex continues to go over phrases with Lorelei, correcting her at times as his hands move over her body. His touch though is impassive and professional, moving her shoulders, tapping them when they need to relax, and moving her arms, one hand to her hip. Lorelei blushes a little when she's posed, but does as she's instructed, continuing to repeat the phrases. The lesson continues, and Fantomex remains professional the entire time, drilling Lorelei and showing her how to hold herself while standing in a few positions that appear sophisticated. Finally though he says, "All done for today mon petit," in his normally heard French accented voice. "We should practice a little everyday we can, but if I am not here, practice yourself and anytime you have a few minutes to yourself." He moves to the desk and picks up a folder to hold out to the young woman. "These are the papers. I am a very good teacher, oui?" Lorelei goes through the different positions and keeps reciting the phrases as they're said, looking relieved when the lesson is finally over. She sighs and nods, slouching for a moment before she stands up straight again, "Yes, sir. I figure I can do it for a few minutes before bed." She pauses, "Kenzie is my roommate, so, if she joins, we could help each other for a few minutes b'f-" She stops and corrects herself, determined to keep practicing as much as possible, at the moment, "Before bed." She smiles and takes the folder, folding her arms over it and holding it against her chest, "You are, yes." She giggles, honestly enjoying the lesson, even though it's repetitive and has left her needing something to drink badly.